November 2nd rides

[tulip]

After yesterday's almost 50 miles of constant hills, I went out again today for a flatter ride in the countryside near my house, in an area where I've never been. I was awfully slow for the first hour, just trying to spin out my legs from yesterday. It was a beautiful fall day, around 60F. 36 miles. Today and yesterday make more miles than I rode in all of October! I think I'm back.

[TrekTheKaty]

I hadn't ridden all week because of work and the cold weather. SO, this morning I woke up early (time change) and it was already up to 50 degrees! DH wouldn't be home until the afternoon, and I couldn't resist a nice quiet Sunday morning--so I headed out for a road ride from our neighborhood. I tried to take it easy, but my legs weren't listening. Riding by myself, I got to thinking. I passed the spot where I turned around on my first road with DH--in tears, because he was disappearing into the horizon and I didn't think the highway outer road was all that scenic and fun. Now I enjoy the challenge of the hills and opportunity to get spinning up to a faster speed than riding on the park path! Good ride:)

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

My husband and I did a very enjoyable 34 mile ride through the countryside today....40F degrees, sunny, not much wind....really nice. Passed many farms.
Yesterday we did 25 miles, so we got a pretty good workout this weekend. :p
No riding tomorrow.

[cycling_sarah]

Had a great ride with redrhodie and my DH today. Here's a pic I took with the camphone as we plowed into the winds at Brenton Point in Newport, RI!

[redrhodie]

Hey, that's me! (in red, of course) :D. It was a fun ride! I'm amazed she was able to snap that picture then! We were being whipped by the cold north wind at that point.

[invsblwmn]

Went for my biggest ride in over a year with my new partner. It was a blast. We went 18.5 miles, and the body is only a little grumpy. I was on the trike, and I feel like I could have gone 30 miles. Life is so wonderful. I think I am in love with being alive again. :)

[Andrea]

I rode a solo 17 miles to a 40 mile group ride today, then made the 17 mile trip home in a slight (but definitely there!) headwind. Usually my favorite person goes with me, but he was busy engaging in super secret CX practice, so I was on my own today :D

[badgercat]

I had a very leisurely day of riding. My BF and I biked to Denny's :o for brunch, and then to the grocery store to pick up some staples. All in all, only about 10 miles, averaging about 11mph, but it was a sunny and very pleasant (low 80's F). We've been trying to do more and more of our errands by bicycle and cut the vehicle out as much as possible, and it feels great!

But, it also made me lustful for panniers, since my shoulder was killing me from my messenger bag by the time I got home... and all I had in it was my wallet, u-lock, bread, bagels, and butter... :eek:

[Crankin]

It was 44 when we went out with our cycling friends at 1:30. I had a great ride yesterday, but my groin and side were acting up this morning, despite tons of stretching and pre-ride yoga warm up. Our friends rode to our house and were freezing, since they don't do as much cold weather riding as we do. We shortened our route and ended up just doing my short loop I did on Friday.
I was way overdressed, but my combo of woolie bullie socks and my new Gore booties were perfect. It was not a great ride for me, I was in pain and extremely slow, but it was gorgeous out! I have developed more of a tolerance for cold weather riding and that is good.
15.8 miles and when we got back we sort of planned our big summer trip. Looks like we'll be doing the Tuscan coast at the end of June. It's not set yet, but I'd better get working on getting my strength back! This will sort of be an early 30th (:eek:) anniversary present for us.
I had to drive our friends home, since we talked so long and it was dark and cold already.
Only 15 more miles to meet my goal for the year.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Went for my biggest ride in over a year with my new partner. It was a blast. We went 18.5 miles, and the body is only a little grumpy. I was on the trike, and I feel like I could have gone 30 miles. Life is so wonderful. I think I am in love with being alive again. :)

So good to hear this!! :p


....We've been trying to do more and more of our errands by bicycle and cut the vehicle out as much as possible, and it feels great!
But, it also made me lustful for panniers, since my shoulder was killing me from my messenger bag by the time I got home... and all I had in it was my wallet, u-lock, bread, bagels, and butter... :eek:

Have you read my thread on grocery bikes yet?
I am converting one of my 2 bikes to a grocery/errand bike.
I got these panniers ($55 for the pair) and am still waiting for the rack to arrive:
grocery panniers (http://www.rei.com/webservices/rei/DisplayStyle/733820?mr:trackingCode=31F6EF1A-5D9F-DD11-873B-0019B9C043EB&mr:referralID=NA&avad=5395_5709_df_8910_115~&cm_mmc=AL-_-4374-_-5395-_-datafeed)



Only 15 more miles to meet my goal for the year.

Yay! :D

I suspect I will only ride half the distance this year as I did last year....and yet I feel stronger and have more muscle and can get up hills better. Go figure. :confused: :confused:

[Brandi]

Whew! My first ride in over a month. Well I was working out of state so I couldn't. My mind is thanking me but my body is screaming at me!

[badgercat]

Have you read my thread on grocery bikes yet?
I am converting one of my 2 bikes to a grocery/errand bike.
I got these panniers ($55 for the pair) and am still waiting for the rack to arrive:
grocery panniers (http://www.rei.com/webservices/rei/DisplayStyle/733820?mr:trackingCode=31F6EF1A-5D9F-DD11-873B-0019B9C043EB&mr:referralID=NA&avad=5395_5709_df_8910_115~&cm_mmc=AL-_-4374-_-5395-_-datafeed)

I have been keeping up with your thread... I can't really afford much right now, but I'm anxiously waiting to hear how you like the Novarra panniers, as maybe I'll be able to get them for Christmas or something. :p

[fastdogs]

I went on a "haunted" ride today, well, not really haunted, but i did ride on "zombie road", which has been the subject of numerous paranormal investigations. I rode al foster trail till Ifound the singletrack that leaves al foster and leads to zombie road. I rode up zombie road for about a mile, until I came to a big tree across the road. I turned and went back at that point. I ran into an older couple who had also read about the legends and were headed up the road. They invited me to walk with them, but I wanted to get in some riding on the trails, so I went back out to al foster and on to stinging nettle. I road stinging nettle a couple of times, criss crossing on the connector trails. There were very few people there, a big difference from al foster, which was really crowded, and I suspect castlewood. I did run into one poor lady on a schwinn, whose crank kept falling off. She'd just stick it back on, ride a bit, and it would fall off again. She said the nut was missing.
On the way back I truned off on the trail to zombie road again, this time I rode for a couple of miles. The road was completely washed out a couple of times, and I had to climb down into the washout and climb up the other side, awkward with the bike. I did find a nice little singletrack on the way back that parallels the road and bypasses a couple of the big down trees and one of the washout areas. I didn't see any shadow people. I am waiting for uforgot to join me so we can ride th whole thing. I was glad to be on the mtn bike due to the broken up road and washed out areas.
zombie road, looking back toward al foster...

[fastdogs]

can't put the photo in.
vickie

[uforgot]

I'm still here waiting for my dinner my son promised me. I could have gone with you today. He fell asleep again! Sounds like a fun ride! And I'm still ready to ride the Al Foster, haven't done that yet.

[shootingstar]

I should have done more today, but what the hey...25 kms.

Yesterday I did 43 kms. and for reasons, not totally explainable, I was sore..after all I had not cycled for 3 previous days. usually I don't get that sore.

[Aggie_Ama]

DH and I went out to Rocky Hill Ranch in beautiful Smithville for a pre-ride of the course he will be racing next weekend. This trail is a little more intermediate than my normal trail but I was able to do quite a bit. I surprised myself (and DH!) in some parts. The trail is very nice if not a bit dark because it is tucked in a pine forest. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride but was pooped after one lap. DH went back out to ride a hard lap and I reclined in the bed of the truck for 30 minutes! I was disappointed the "gimpy" cows DH saw last week were not out this week. He called them gimpy because he thinks they are cheap auction cows for an agriculture exemption. :p

Our lovely fall weather? Sunny and about 83!

[arielmoon]

The knee has been bothering me still since the century... so I rode 13 miles both monday and tuesday without feeling much improvement. Strangely I did think it felt better after I rode. I got rained out yesterday and rode the trainer but I was determined to see how it would be today.

Great weather today but very windy. I set off and immediately felt the knee pain and I almost turned back around but I decided to play around and see what worked.

I discovered that mashing felt better (with almost no pain) than spinning :confused: So I ended up doing a strong 24 miles: averaged 19.3 on my scenic route. I was so pumped and wired afterward! I love that feeling. And oddly enough, my knee feels better this evening that it has all week. :confused:

[tulip]

I discovered that mashing felt better (with almost no pain) than spinning :confused: So I ended up doing a strong 24 miles: averaged 19.3 on my scenic route. I was so pumped and wired afterward! I love that feeling. And oddly enough, my knee feels better this evening that it has all week. :confused:

Yep, within reason. I found that as well. My theory (and I have NO basis for it because I'm not a PT or anything remotely like that) is that when you spin constantly very easy you are stressing your tendons and not using your muscles, and so your tendons do all the work, which they are not meant to do. So a bit of mashing (again within reason) uses muscles that work in concert with the tendons and ligaments, and every part does its particular job and there's no pain.

Some PT please explain what really happens.

[Jolt]

I went for about a 45-minute ride late this afternoon; it was in the mid 40's here. I need to figure out how to keep my hands and ears warm on cold rides! Especially with doing more riding right now since I can't run yet (still working on fixing IT band problems which fortunately cycling doesn't bother).

[Tri Girl]

Ummm... Yesterday I rode 5 miles doing errands and today I only did 10 miles running errands (shoe store, grocery store), and my quads are really sore. Hmmm...:confused:
Granted, I haven't ridden much at all lately, but still. I'm not in bad shape. I guess my legs just have forgotten what that crazy riding thing is all about (might be the 20 lbs of food I was hauling).

[arielmoon]

Yep, within reason. I found that as well. My theory (and I have NO basis for it because I'm not a PT or anything remotely like that) is that when you spin constantly very easy you are stressing your tendons and not using your muscles, and so your tendons do all the work, which they are not meant to do. So a bit of mashing (again within reason) uses muscles that work in concert with the tendons and ligaments, and every part does its particular job and there's no pain.

Some PT please explain what really happens.

I agree that the muscles work more. The more I could feel my quad working the less I felt in the knee. :)

In addition, have a theory that may or may not hold water. When I spin I must follow the entire motion of the pedal or else I bounce like mad. When I mash (within reason- like you said) I dont have to because the power of the push carries the pedal around.

I am open to a more educated interpretation if anyone has one!

[tulip]

When you bounce, you are spinning too much. However, you can (and should) do the whole circle thing even on bigger gears. Don't just push down, but pull up on the backside of the stroke, too. Be smooth.

[arielmoon]

When you bounce, you are spinning too much. However, you can (and should) do the whole circle thing even on bigger gears. Don't just push down, but pull up on the backside of the stroke, too. Be smooth.

I try and I am pretty sure that I am fairly smooth. Just trying to theorize why it makes a difference to my knee. :D

[PinkBike]

we went to tucson for a training ride for el tour de tucson in 3 weeks. there were two options - 56 and 92 miles. we decided on the shorter one because next week we're do the 100-miler. we blast off and at about 10 miles DH lets out an "eek" - his garmin has disappeared from his handlebars. i kidded him about how expensive this riding business is turning out to be, i mean its always something, between flats and stolen seats and all. so we decided to retrace our steps. we found it about 5 miles back, laying in the middle of the bike lane, still running! at least 50 riders had to have passed it by. oh, we also found a watch along the way. and a dime.

so now we've lost our group, so we decide we're just a couple miles from mt lemmon let's go ride it. we get there, start up the mountain, at about 5 miles my bottles are empty and we're 9 miles from the summit. so we turn around and FLY down the mountain.

at the bottom we still have good legs so we decide to ride about another hour or so since we dont have to check out of our hotel til noon. so we start out and just ride and ride and now its close to noon and i realize we really dont know exactly where we are. so we keep going, but stop every couple miles to pull out the garmin (i had just recently loaded the street maps), and finally see a street i recognize so we know where to go but we're still about 6 miles away. we're tired and hungry and thirsty and hot (it's still 86 degrees here) and cranky and get into the hotel (the hilton - $63 - hotwire.com! score!) about 12:30 and they give us the okay to check out at 1 p.m.

all in all just another adventure.

[newfsmith]

In 8 years of commuting, everyday I rode past a house with a beautiful front yard, all in perennials. It flowers from early spring to late fall. Today, I happened to be coming back from my ride around noon (luxery of retirement) and an older women (older than me even) was out cleaning up the spent asters. I stopped to say what a lovely yard she had and how much I had enjoyed it over the years. She was beaming. Her smile helped me spin up the last hill.

[badgercat]

In 8 years of commuting, everyday I rode past a house with a beautiful front yard, all in perennials. It flowers from early spring to late fall. Today, I happened to be coming back from my ride around noon (luxery of retirement) and an older women (older than me even) was out cleaning up the spent asters. I stopped to say what a lovely yard she had and how much I had enjoyed it over the years. She was beaming. Her smile helped me spin up the last hill.

What a lovely story! :) Thanks for sharing.